[B-Greek] Acts 6:9 how many synagogues in this text?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Feb 24 06:19:07 EST 2007


On Feb 24, 2007, at 5:39 AM, Cirk Bejnar wrote:

> --- George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Only one.  After stating what synagogue was involved
>> the nationalities are then given -- "both … and …
>> and"
>> george
>> gfsomsel
>
> Act 6:9
> ANESTHSAN DE TINES
> TWN EK THS SUNAGWGHS THS LEGOMENHS LIBERTINWN
> KAI KURHNAIWN KAI ALEXANDREWN
> KAI TWN APO KILIKIAS KAI ASIAS
> SUZHTOUNTES TWi STEFANWi
>
> Why is the TWN repeated in the second half of the
> verse.  I would be inclined to understand it as "Some
> from the Synagogue called Freedmen's both Cyrenians
> and Alexandrians and some from Cilicia and Asia" not
> making clear which synagogue the latter people might
> attend.  Is this reading grammatically or contextually
> implausible?

Not really. Only one synagogue is actually named; while it is true  
that the linkage of genitive strings to their head noun(s) can be  
awkward in NT Koine Greek, the most "natural" way to read this  
sequence, in my opinion, is to understand TWN APO KILIKIAS KAI ASIAS  
as "work-around" substantives for "Cilicians and Asians" (i.e.  
freedmen from the Roman provinces of Cilicia and Asia) and parallel  
to  the substantives KURHNAIWN KAI ALEXANDREWN. We have, apparently  
two groups, the North Africans (from Cyrene and Alexandria) and those  
from Asia Minor (Cilicia and Asia). These are Jewish freedmen (former  
slaves who had evidently able to return to and settle in Jerusalem  
after leaving the places of their servitude in different provinces of  
the eastern Roman Empire. I would English this as, "But certain men  
stood up to question Stephen -- persons from the so-called  
"Libertines' Synagogue," those from Cyrene and Alexandria and from  
Cilicia and Asia."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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